This invention relates to firearm magazine holders, and more particularly, to firearm magazine holders from which one or more firearm magazines may be quickly and easily inserted into a firearm.
Generally, a firearm that utilizes a magazine for holding ammunition only has the ability to hold one magazine at a time. Consequently, firearm users may desire to carry replacement magazines. For example, users such as police officers, armed forces personnel, hunters, competition shooters, and even recreational shooters often carry additional magazines in magazines holders attached to their person in order to have quick and easy access to additional ammunition-carrying magazines.
Conventional magazine holders include, for example, magazine pouches, which are typically constructed as a multi-sided pocket with a bottom, such that a magazine slides into the pocket, with its base protruding. Such conventional magazine holders often include magazine fasteners, such as flaps or straps, intended to fasten the magazine in the pouch and retain the magazine in a fixed position. For example, a cover flap may be folded over the magazine and fastened to the pouch in order to retain the magazine in the pouch.
Because firearm magazines are often angled from top to bottom in order to match the angle of a corresponding firearm's grip or magazine holder, conventional magazine pouches are usually designed to receive the magazine such that the magazine is held in a sideways orientation relative to the user's body. By orienting the magazine sideways relative to the user's body, the magazine does not protrude from the user's body based on the angle of the magazine from top to bottom.
Conventional magazine holders have many disadvantages. For magazine holders that include a magazine fastener, a user must unfasten the magazine fastener before the magazine can be withdrawn. In situations where speed of withdrawing the magazine is critical, such as high-performance shooting competitions or combat situations, the need to unfasten the magazine fastener is disadvantageous. Consequently, some conventional magazine holders eliminate magazine fasteners and instead rely on tightness of fit to retain the magazines in position in the pouch. However, these types of magazine holders also have disadvantages. For example, in order to maintain a tight fit, a pouch must necessarily be sized to fit a particular type of magazine. As such, a user may need a different pouch for each type of magazine. Further, some magazines include structures at the bottom of the magazine that are larger than the cross-section of the ammunition carrying portion of the magazine and, as such, the magazine may only be loaded into such pouches in one direction—top-down (i.e. ammunition loading side down).
Accordingly, there is a need for improved magazine holders that allow secure retention of one or more magazines while also allowing quick access to the one or more magazines.